Home Depot second-quarter earnings jump 18 percent
By MAE ANDERSON & MICHELLE CHAPMAN Associated Press on Aug 21, 2013, at 2:28 AM Updated on 8/21/13 at 3:00 AM
Home Depot Inc. raised its full-year earnings and revenue expectations Tuesday amid an improving housing market across the nation. Associated Press file
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ATLANTA - Home Depot's earnings jumped 18 percent in its latest quarter, helped by an improving housing market and good response to holiday events.
The nation's biggest home improvement retailer's results beat Wall Street expectations, and the company raised its full-year earnings and revenue expectations.
A slowly improving employment landscape and extremely low interest rates this year have created such great demand that homebuilders are having some difficulty securing land and keeping pace. That's good news for home-improvement retailers because as home values improve, customers feel more comfortable investing money in projects for their homes. Home Depot's smaller rival Lowe's Cos. will report results Wednesday.
"There were four key factors that drove our performance: strong summer events, a recovering seasonal business, commodity inflation and strength across the remainder of the store," said Craig Menear, executive vice president of merchandising for Home Depot Inc.
For the fiscal second quarter that ended Aug. 4, Home Depot earned $1.8 billion, or $1.24 per share. That compares with $1.53 billion, or $1.01 per share, a year ago.
Revenue for the company climbed more than 9 percent to $22.52 billion, from $20.57 billion. The strongest categories included kitchens, indoor and outdoor garden, lumber, lighting, and tools. Following a spring that was cool and wet across many regions of the country, outdoor project sales recovered "and then some," Menear said.
Original Print Headline: Home Depot 2Q earnings soar
Retail
Incredible Pizza Co. will jump into the indoor trampoline park business later this year.
A recurrent favorite, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. once again ranks among top picks of investing professionals who like the retailer's focus on international expansion and growth of its smaller store formats.
